The weather bureau said a weakened Melor, with maximum sustained winds of 100kph near the center and gusts of up to 130kph, continued to move westward at 7kph in the South China Sea. EPA - FRANCIS R. MALASIG

Typhoon Melor death toll climbs as more floods loom

HEAVY rains have pummelled the Philippines, threatening to aggravate flooding that has prompted the Government to declare a state of "national calamity".

The death toll after a week of devastating weather has risen to 41, according to confirmed reports from national and local disaster monitoring agencies.

Poor farming communities in the main southern island of Mindanao were flooded on Saturday after at least two rivers burst their banks, local disaster officials said.

The storm, locally named Onyok, had weakened into a low pressure area after hitting land late on Friday but continued to bring more rains to Mindanao and the central Visayas islands.

Cold monsoon winds blowing from the north-east brought rains to Luzon, the main northern island, where large farming communities have been submerged in mostly waist-deep floods from Typhoon Melor, which hit at the start of the week.